University Council approves Serious Games and Simulations degree
On April 18, UHCL’s university council approved the creation of a new degree, Serious Games and Simulations. Several UHCL officials and professors from all four schools have been working together to get the new degree approved. The BA/MS is a six-year degree but could be completed in five years if students enroll full time each long semester and attend summer semesters. It will be housed in the College of Human Sciences and Humanities.
Anne Henry, clinical assistant professor of digital media and studies, is one of the professors from the College of Human Sciences and Humanities (HSH) who has been working to bring this degree to fruition since the beginning.
“Serious games are engaging, effective, technology-based games used for the purpose of training and learning,” Henry said. “Serious games are currently being used by the military, governmental agencies, education, healthcare and a wide range of industries.”
The video game industry is now over a hundred billion dollar industry and it continues to grow.
To put that into perspective, in 2016 the music industry was worth 16 billion, while the film was 49 billion. The total for the video games industry in that year eclipsed both of those numbers, reaching 101 billion in global revenue.
“When these experiences are done well, game designers are able to create a sense of flow – an intense state of concentration and focus, allowing players to solve complex problems,” said Jack McGrath president of Digitec Interactive and a UHCL Advisory Board Member. “Serious games and simulation-based learning courses at UHCL will explore how to leverage the power of this art form to produce ‘games for good or serious games.’”
Rick Short, dean in the college of HSH, has been a proponent of the new degree as well, stating that gaming and simulations are revolutionizing the educational system at all levels. He also said the Greater Houston Area is a hotspot for this new and booming industry. Although several local community colleges offer gaming-focused degrees, Short said this one will stand out from others for a variety of reasons.
“Despite these [other gaming degree offerings], no university-based initiative in the Greater Houston Area exists to partner with local and area industry and agencies to educate developers, conduct research and development, and foster innovations in this burgeoning educational arena,” Short said. “UHCL, by location, expertise and commitment, has a unique opportunity to fill that void.”
The degree may be attractive to students with a wide variety of proficiencies. Henry said some examples of what one might do with this degree include: programmer, project manager in game design, game producer, media artist, 3d animator, 2d artist, storyboard artist, concept artist, software engineer, sound engineer, musician, scriptwriter, instructional designer, marketing, level designer, quality assurance tester, and more.
One example of a course from the degree is called Game Design & Theory.
“Students learn to design a “serious game”– a game designed for a specific application related to education or training,” Henry said. “To learn how to design a game, students will explore techniques and research related to the development of successful commercial games and how these strategies can be applied to the development of serious games.”
The capstone experience for this course will involve the development of a game while working with an interdisciplinary group of students, which imitates real teams who work in the industry.
Because of the wide scope and interdisciplinary nature of this degree, faculty from all four colleges of UHCL will teach in the program even though it will be housed in the College of HSH.
An attempt was made to interview representatives from the Colleges of Science and Engineering, Business and Education regarding what type of coursework they will contribute to the degree, but no responses were received by press time.
“Students leaving with a degree in Serious Games and Simulations can get jobs in serious games and simulations, but their unique experience in working with an interdisciplinary team for project development will prepare them for a variety of technology-based jobs in app development and augmented and virtual reality,” Henry said.
Henry also said the next steps for approval will be possibly the Provost Council, then definitely the Board of Regents and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB).
